The 109th U.S. Open Championship

U.S. Open Preview

If there was any doubt about the status of Tiger Woods’ game heading into this week’s 109th U.S. Open Golf Championship, the world’s best player sure answered any questions 10 days ago at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village. Trailing coming into the final round, Woods shot a seven-under 65 to win the tournament by one stroke, cashing as the favorite on the golf betting board in the process.

It should come as no surprise Tiger is the chalk to win his fourth career U.S. Open title this week at the Black Course at Bethpage State Park on Long Island. Woods is priced at +175 to win the tournament outright in a proposition that has the rest of the field listed at –250, and is coming off perhaps the best round of golf in his time on the PGA Tour.

In paying for backers in the final afternoon at Muirfield, Woods hit 49 of 56 fairways – a feat he last accomplished at the 1998 Masters. Considering that performance and Tiger’s reported ease in practice this week in Farmingdale, it’s hard to bet against him to become the first player to win multiple titles at the same venue in all four major championships.

Woods is a huge –450 fave in his tournament matchup with Phil Mickelson, who is set at +325 in the pairing. Both Tiger and Lefty figure to place well at Bethpage Black, with either of them having finished first or second in the last five, and eight of the last 10 U.S. Opens. Woods cashed a three-shot victory over Mickelson to win the U.S. Open when it was last at Bethpage in 2002, although it’s Lefty who’s had more consistency at this major. Mickelson has four second-place and seven top 10 results at the U.S Open, which amounts to the best history of any player who hasn’t won the event.

Bethpage Black is a public, municipally-owned course, and the gallery will reflect that reality. That means the crowd is less champagne and caviar and more hot dogs and beer; it felt like a New York Rangers game when the U.S. Open was on this course seven years ago. The people are likely to be squarely behind Lefty, who has to play with his wife Amy’s breast cancer diagnosis on his mind this week.

If the crowd is backing Mickelson, they’re likely to razz Sergio Garcia and many of the European-born golfers. Listed at –130 in his tourney matchup with Padraig Harrington (+100), Garcia drew the ire of the Bethpage faithful with his constant waggling in ’02 and he paid the price for getting engaged vocally with the gallery. Not that European players need anything else working against them: Since Englishman Tony Jacklin’s victory in 1970, no European-born entrant has won the U.S. Open. At least non-Americans have had better success this decade, with Retief Goosen (South Africa), Michael Campbell (New Zealand), Geoff Ogilvy (Australia), and Angel Cabrera (Argentina) winning the tournament from 2004-2007.

Make sure to handicap the weather. If it goes according to the forecast, the 7,426-yard, par-70 course at Bethpage will play even longer than anticipated. The outlook calls for thundershowers for the first three rounds of the Open, meaning players who aren’t the best off the tee could be in trouble. An otherwise sharp play like Luke Donald could be a casualty of inclement weather because of his lack of power, while Jim Furyk could definitely become fade bait if the rain comes pouring down. Furyk ranks only 173rd of 190 golfers on Tour in driving distance, with a 275.1 yards per drive average.